IPL Cricket - Opening Match

We all decided that because cricket was such an important Indian pastime, we really should go and check out a cricket match. We bought tickets to see the opening match of the IPL (Indian Premier League) where Bangalore Royal Challengers were playing Kolkota Knight Riders. They were playing in Bangalore so it was quite easy to get to.

We were not permitted to take cameras in with us, so I took a few pictures with my mobile phone camera. We got there quite early and managed to get reasonably decent seats. We paid about £12 for our seats which were basically plastic chairs on the stand. The cheaper seats didnt event have chairs - they were just sat on the concrete.

The sponsors (Kingfisher) are considering getting into F1 racing and there was a racing car on the stands to our right.The pictch started to get flooded with smoke and we couldnt quite work out why this was.By the time it started getting dark, the stadium had really filled up.

We were told there would be some kind of opening ceremony - someone mentioned that Shilpa Shetty (celebrity Big Brother winner) would be there, so we were just expecting a speech and perhaps a song from Shilpa Shetty, but some famous singer started singing a few tunes from the stage above the F1 car. Just after that, some guys marched out onto the pitch, picked up some instruments and started playing music and then we found out the reason for the smoke machine! The light show was pretty amazing!

After a few minutes, some people on stilts came out, all dressed up with batons twirling.
After that, some girls in large clear balls came out and started doing gymnastics inside the balls. It was pretty cool!

Directly in front of us, a rope dropped from the top of the balcony above us and after a few minutes, a girl shot up in the air attached to the ribbons and started doing all these different kinds of tricks. She was not attached to a safety rope which made is even more amazing.
I looked around the stadium and realised that this was happening all around the stadium. All the acrobats were pulling the same tricks in time to the music and it was really amazing to watch.

When the acrobats finished, the lights went down and a laser show started.

After the laser show, the acrobats went back up on their ribbons we had some more lights, then the fireworks went off. To finish off, all the captains of each of the IPL teams were introduced and the crowd was going wild when certain names were mentioned - no idea who they were though!After the show, the two teams got onto the pitch and had a quick warm up before starting the game.

The opening ceremony was really amazing! It was similar to an olympic opening ceremony. The cricket match was quite good as well. Bangalore got hammered - the Knight Riders scored the highest ever score in a Twenty20 game and then bowled Bangalore all out. It was good, but I dont think I'd make a regular habit of going to watch the matches, but I loved the opening ceremony - if they do a closing ceremony, I might be tempted to go along!

Bannerghatta National Park

A few weeks ago Ed and I were at a loose end, so we planned a quick trip to Bannerghatta National Park. We got up early on a Sunday to get to the park for 9am. The park is about an hour and a half away so it was something on my list of things to do locally.

The park comprises of a zoo, a butterfly farm and a national park with very large, open enclosures for animals to roam in.

The zoo was pretty depressing and is not really worth looking at, but since the safari tours were not running for another hour when we arrived, we took a look around to kill some time. The cages are very small with concrete bases and if it was in the UK, it would have been shut down years ago.

The first thing we saw were the hippos taking refuge from the heat in their pool.

The crocodiles were doing the same thing!

I had never heard of the Indian Giant Squirrels which were pretty big! One of the wild monkeys was taunting the squirrels and it was quite funny to watch!

The monkey struck a pose for me!

I nearly walked straight past the Iguana because I didn't notice it!

They also had some lepoards and panthers - the panthers were still inside the building, but we could just about see them. We could definitely hear them though; I thought it was a chainsaw, the big cats are so loud and have a huge amount of bass when they roar.

We went on the ‘Grand Safari’ which was an hour long tour on an old bus driving at high speed along a dusty track. We did see a few wild animals though – bears, lions (and lionesses, but I never managed to get a picture), tigers and my highlight was seeing a white tiger.
The bus tour stopped at the butterfly farm, but it was quite limited in the range of butterflies – most were pretty much the same colour and size. There were some really unusual plants in the greenhouse though.

On the outside of the butterfly house was a big hornet’s nest – I’d never seen one quite like it before.

There were loads of termite mounds everywhere. I'd never seen one up close before. I gave it a knock to see just how hard they are, and they are like concrete. It was also very cool to the touch.
So, overall, not a bad trip – I’d avoid the zoo though (except for the giant squirrels) and just go on the safari tours. They also do an elephant ride and an elephant safari – if I return, I may try the elephant safari.

On the way back, we stopped at Big Bazaar (probably the closest thing to a supermarket I've found yet) and discovered another crazy sign!

Return to Lalbagh

I eventually got myself back to Lalbagh Gardens to see the half that I never saw. The entrance fee is 10 rupees and I only had a 500 rupee note, so when I paid for my ticket, I checked my change and I was short changed by 100 rupees. When I went back to the ticket counter, I told the guy behind the counter that he hadn’t given me enough change and without even asking how much I was short by he gave me 100 rupees!

This is a map of the park. The first time I went, I stayed around the lake area, this time I covered the other side.

The birds were working their way through any food thrown into the bin.

This tree fossil is estimated to be approximately twenty million years old.

The roots on this tree were quite impressive.

I stumbled across the topiary garden. You can’t really see it in the photo’s but there were loads of different types of animals in there. The snake was quite good, but it never came out very well in the photos!

This water feature is pretty cool - it often appears on any advertisements for Lalbagh.

I’m still a fan of the glass house!

The last time I came here, I saw the lily pond from higher up and I decided to get a bit closer this time. I think this was supposed to be a rose garden, but perhaps it's a bit too early for the roses to bloom.
The floral clock was quite nice. The seven dwarfs were also in the gardens (the last one is out of shot on the left hand side).

There is another park in Bangalore called Cubbon Park, so the next time I have nothing to do, I'll take a look over there.